


A Fresh Pallet

by Zetor



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Chance Meetings, F/M, Growing Up, Loss of Parent(s), Responsibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 12:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19150747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zetor/pseuds/Zetor
Summary: Misty heads down to Pallet Town when she hears Ash is back from Kalos, only to spend the day with a completely different trainer.





	A Fresh Pallet

Misty Waterflower's short orange ponytail fluttered in the wind as she sped across the water on the back of her Gyarados. Riding in the summer always felt great; the rush of air countered the worst of the summer heat, resulting in a warm breeze of salty ocean air. It was a lot like the feeling of riding a bike along the coast.

The thought of biking brought an amused smile to the young woman's face; it seemed appropriate, given where she was headed. Memories of following a certain dark haired pokémon trainer across three regions on the context of getting him to repair her ruined bike ran through her mind. The idea was pretty ridiculous in hindsight, especially considering how rarely she actually used her bike these days. Of course, the bike had been more of an excuse than anything else long before her sisters called her home to take over the Cerulean gym. Traveling and spending time together with her friend Ash had quickly become about something very different for her, not that  _he_  ever noticed.

Thankfully, the small port on the southern border of Pallet Town came into view, providing a welcome distraction from the unpleasant line of thought that was all too familiar to the water-type trainer. Making landfall, she hopped off her pokémon and gave the massive serpentine beast an affectionate pat before returning it to its pokéball for a well deserved rest. After a short stretch, she adjusted her signature ponytail and started down the simple dirt road that led to her old friend's house.

The call from his mother, Delia, the previous week letting her know that he was in town had been a pleasant surprise; it was an unfortunately rare occurrence, given all the traveling he did. The older woman never failed to impress her. It was hard enough for her to be out of contact with a friend for so long; she couldn't imagine what it must be like for his mother. He really needed to stop all his globetrotting and just settle down already. For Delia.

The house looked as well cared for as ever, the clean white siding and bright red roof standing out from the other homes along the dusty road. The young woman had only been there a handful of times, but somehow it felt like home. She found herself pausing at the edge of the walkway leading up to the house, one hand resting on the white picket fence that lined the yard. With a final steadying breath, she put on a smile, walked up to the door, and knocked.

After a few moments passed with no response, she raised her hand to knock again, but was stopped by a nasal voice she couldn't quite place. "They're out of town."

"What?" Misty asked reflexively. As the information registered, she turned around to find Gary Oak, the former rival of the person she'd come to visit, with his Umbreon nuzzling his leg affectionately.

"Their Mr. Mime won a trip to Alola," the spiky haired brunette explained, kneeling down and scratching his pokémon behind its ear. Looking up and noticing Misty's confused expression, he shook his head and added, "Yeah, don't ask me how it entered a lottery."

"No—I mean, yeah, that's weird—but Mrs. Ketchum called me just last week and told me Ash was in town," Misty argued, trying to make sense of the situation.

Gary gave his dark-type a final scratch, then stood up and shrugged. "She must have forgotten you were coming. She can get pretty distracted when Ash is in town, probably because it's so rare." His words were empathetic, if a bit bitter toward the end, without a trace of the mocking tone Misty remembered from years ago.

Heaving a dejected sigh, Misty shook her head and said, "No, it's my fault. I didn't tell her I was coming. I got a break from work and figured he'd still be in town a  _week later_."

"Well, there's your mistake," Gary said with a chuckle. "You expected  _Ash Ketchum_  to stay in one place for longer than it takes to restock his backpack."

Misty found herself smiling. With a playful roll of her eyes, she agreed, "Yeah. What was I thinking?" Realizing something, she asked, "Wait, what are  _you_  doing here? The last I heard, you were in Sinnoh studying with Professor Rowan."

The young researcher diverted his gaze and, not really answering the question, said, "I came home a few months ago." After a moment of awkward silence, he asked, "Do you want to get something to eat? You must be hungry after coming all the way from Cerulean."

"Seriously?" Misty responded in surprised disbelief, caught completely off-guard. While it felt a little weird to share a meal with a guy she remembered best as her friend's annoying rival, she reminded herself that it had been years since she'd last seen him and that she certainly wasn't the same person she'd been back then. He was right about her being hungry too.

"Hey, if you don't want to—" Gary began.

"No! I mean, sure. Let's get something to eat," Misty blurted out, tripping over her words. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment at her awkwardness.

If Gary noticed, he didn't say anything. Instead, he turned toward town, and said, "There's not exactly much selection out here in the boonies, but luckily, what we do have is pretty good." His Umbreon trilled in agreement, and started down the road to town.

Misty laughed. "I guess I'll take Umbreon's word for it," she said, following the pokémon.

* * *

To say that Pallet Town was small would be an understatement. It was the least populated town in the Kanto region, and very decentralized. Historically it had been a ranching village, but it had been known for Professor Oak's laboratory for all of Misty's life. The small town was a pleasant change of pace from her own home of Cerulean; the people were all friendly, and everyone seemed to know each other.

Several smiling townspeople greeted Gary on the way into town, and Misty was pleasantly surprised when he briefly paused the conversation they were having to nod or say a few words in response each time. The two teens were catching up on what each other had been up to since they saw each other last. Gary had apparently been doing research around Kanto and the neighboring Johto, before being offered an internship studying rare pokémon with Professor Rowan in Sinnoh. Misty had felt a bit embarrassed about her own relatively tame experiences running the Cerulean gym, but Gary seemed genuinely interested in Pokémon League policies and the intricacies of running a gym.

The young gym leader had just finished explaining the process of selecting the right pokémon to suit the number of badges a challenger had, when Gary stopped in front of a small restaurant in the meager cluster of buildings that made up Pallet Town proper. Holding open the door, he asked, "So, do you do a lot of training to get your Pokémon to hold back?"

"Thanks," Misty said, following Umbreon past the young man. "Yeah, though some just won't work at certain levels. I keep Staryu unevolved for trainers without many badges, and I can only use Gyarodos against the stronger ones, especially its mega evolution."

"Wait, you have a Gyaradosite?" Gary asked in surprise as he walked into the small waiting area at the front of the restaurant and held up two fingers to the hostess, who smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. I heard some rumors about there being one in the caves in Mount Silver, so I took some time off last year and found it," Misty explained, following the hostess to a booth next to the window and taking a seat.

"How do you not lead with  _that_?" Gary asked, shaking his head in disbelief as he sat down across from Misty.

The hostess cleared her throat and asked, "Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, sorry," Misty said, with a small blush. "I'll have a green tea."

"Coffee, thanks," Gary said, "and some milk for my Umbreon."

The hostess nodded and placed a menu down in front of each trainer. "Your server will be with you in a moment with your drinks."

"Thanks," Misty responded, picking up her menu as the woman walked away. The variety was surprising, given the small town.

Gary stared at Misty and asked, "Are we just going to sit here and ignore the fact that you went into Mount Silver  _alone_? Putting aside that most trainers aren't even  _allowed_  to go near those caves, you dug a mega stone out of one of the most dangerous places in Kanto and Johto. How can you call your life boring?"

Misty lowered her menu and smirked at the young man sitting across from her. "Is the great Gary Oak  _jealous_?" she teased.

"Hey, there are some rare pokémon up there I'd love to take a look at. Do you realize how hard it is to get a permit?" the young researcher replied, matching her smirk. "Seriously though, don't sell yourself short."

"I guess I  _am_  pretty amazing," Misty joked.

"And modest too," Gary sarcastically joked back, raising his eyebrows.

"Shut up," Misty managed to say, unable to keep from laughing.

"So where's your key stone?" Gary asked, craning his neck to look for the item in question.

Misty smiled as she reached up and carefully undid her ponytail, letting her orange hair fall down and frame her face. She held the blue hair tie up in front of her, the stone in question dangling from it. "A girl's got to have some jewelry."

"I prefer something less complicated," Gary countered, shaking back his left sleeve to reveal a simple leather bracelet with a similar stone set in it. "You ought to try it yourself; you look good with your hair down."

Misty set unpacking the compliment aside for a moment, and leaned forward to eagerly ask, "So, which of your pokémon?" She hadn't had the chance to meet many trainers with a pokémon that could mega evolve and had been looking for a chance to test Mega Gyarodos' limits. She'd sparred with her old friend Brock's Mega Steelix a few times, but Mega Gyarodos' type advantage kept the ground-type from being enough of a challenge to really see how far it could go.

Gary smiled fondly down at the keystone on his wrist, his right hand drifting to a well worn pokéball on his hip. "My very first, Blastoise. Gramps gave me the Blastoisite as a gift when I moved back. He said he got it from Professor Sycamore to test out."

"How is Professor Oak?" Misty asked, settling back into her seat. She definitely wanted to battle Gary and his Mega Blastoise, but that could wait until after they ate.

Gary turned his head to look out the window. "He's fine, getting older I guess. Can't keep up with the pokémon as well as he used to, sleeps more; that kind of thing."

"Well, I guess that happens to everyone," Misty said awkwardly, lowering her head and staring at her menu. She didn't really have much experience with older people, and wasn't sure what to say. Instead, she asked, "So, what do you recommend?"

Gary took a moment to react, seemingly lost in thought. When the question registered, he lifted his own menu and looked it over. "Hmm… Well, the produce from the latest harvest should be in stock by now, so probably something with a lot of vegetables."

Misty covered her mouth, muffling a short laugh. Grinning, she asked, "You keep track of the  _harvest_?"

Gary's face flushed and he sharply retorted, "Well, excuse me! There's not exactly a lot to do in a small town like this, and that's what passes for news. We can't all run gyms in the city and go trotting of to Mt. Silver whenever we want."

Misty's muscles tensed and she pushed as far back into the cushioning of the booth as she could, instinctively putting distance between herself and the angry young man sitting across from her. After a moment of processing, she forced her body to relax and tried to figure out what had just happened. She and Gary had been teasing back and forth since they'd run into each other in front of Delia's house, but it had been playful. At least, she thought it had.

Looking across the table, she saw Gary staring down, his head resting in the palm of his right hand. Even though she couldn't see his face, Misty could tell by the tension in shoulders that he was upset. She had no idea what to do. Her first reaction was anger—she did  _not_  put up with that kind of thing—but seeing the confident young man she'd been talking with sitting there deflated, she couldn't help but feel more than a little guilty.

Just as she was reaching across the table and opening her mouth to apologize, a blonde waitress with pigtails and more chest than Misty thought was remotely fair arrived with their drinks. The gym leader quickly pulled her hand back, giving the server a terse, "Thanks."

If the waitress picked up on Misty's tone or read the situation at all, she didn't show it. After placing the drinks on the table, she turned to Misty with a vacant smile and perkily asked, "Are you ready to order?"

Misty growled under her breath, briefly considering sending out her Gyarodos and seeing if the young woman would pick up on _its_ mood. Instead, she glanced down at the menu, quickly scanned it, and said, "We'll have two of the fresh berry salads and a plate of watercress sandwiches to share."

"Great choice! We just got fresh veggies from the last harvest in today. I'll be back with your food in just a few minutes," the waitress said, still wearing the same vacant smile. Seemingly oblivious to Gary's condition or Misty's growing irritation, she picked up their menus and finally turned and left.

Taking a moment to cool her head after dealing with the waitress, Misty almost jumped when Gary sarcastically said, "Brittany isn't exactly the brightest candle on the Chandelure, is she?"

"I'm not even sure she's lit," Misty quipped without thinking. Covering her mouth and hoping she hadn't said the wrong thing again, she slowly turned to find Gary leaning back against the booth with an amused grin. Despite his expression, he looked tired; the tension had drained from his body, but it had left him slumping his seat.

After a silence that couldn't possibly have been as long as it felt, he sighed and said, "It's alright. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have reacted like that. It wasn't even really about you. I just…" He trailed off and sighed, dropping his gaze to the table. Noticing his coffee, he picked it up and took a drink. When he lowered the cup, he looked up and met Misty's eyes for the first time since his outburst. In a tired, surprisingly bitter voice, he said "I don't exactly  _want_  to be stuck in this little town, you know? I want to go see other regions and make a name for myself discovering new things. I don't have that luxury though. I'm not a kid anymore; I have responsibilities."

Misty was confused for a moment, then everything clicked. "Professor Oak," she said, her voice hushed.

"Yeah," Gary confirmed, looking out the window again. "He's getting older, and someone has to take care of him, take care of his lab."

"What about your parents? I don't know if they could run his lab, but Tracy might be able to help with that," Misty offered.

There was another lengthy pause, then without looking away from the window, Gary said, "My parents died a year before I left Pallet Town."

Misty's eyes widened and she gasped, her hand moving to cover her mouth. "Arceus. Gary, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

Gary turned to face Misty with a sad smile and shrugged. "It's life; things happen," he said in a voice that didn't quite match his words. "There's no reason for you to apologize."

"No. I mean, there is," Misty said awkwardly. She looked down at her tea, her orange hair falling around her face and obscuring it as she considered whether or not she should share why knew how much assumptions like that could hurt. It wasn't something she liked to talk about, but she felt like she owed it to Gary after what she'd said, or maybe that he would actually understand. After taking a sip of tea to wet her suddenly dry throat, she looked up and explained, "I know it can hurt when someone brings something like that up. I… Well, I never really knew my parents, and it always stings when someone assumes I had them in my life."

"Your parents died too?" Gary asked. His voice was hard to read, but judging from his face, he was definitely surprised.

"My mom did… giving birth to me," Misty said, looking back down at her cup and noticing that she was grasping it hard enough to make her knuckles white. It never got easier. "My dad just… left. Sorry, I know it's not the same the same thing." She couldn't believe she was telling Gary about her parents—she hadn't even told Ash or Brock. She couldn't exactly say nothing after bringing it up though, and she wasn't going to lie after Gary had been so open.

The young researcher reached across the table and gently placed his hand on Misty's. "It's not. I'm the one that should be apologizing. I'm sitting here using my parents as an excuse to complain about having to take care of gramps, while I got to grow up with them around. You didn't even know yours."

Gary's touch was comforting, and helped her keep what would usually be an embarrassingly explosive outburst down to a simmering growl. "I only really  _want_  to know one of them; the other I'd be happy to introduce to Gyarodos though." Her sisters had fond memories of their father, but Misty could only see him as a coward who left four young girls with the huge responsibility of running a gym. She always thought she was past being angry about it, but apparently some wounds never really healed.

Gary quirked a smile. "Let me know if you do. I'm pretty sure my Electivire would like to get to know him too," he said, gently giving a comforting squeeze to the hand he was holding. Umbreon growled menacingly, and Gary added, "Apparently Umbreon too."

Misty looked up at Gary with an amused grin. Before she could reply however, their server arrived with their food and immediately zeroed in on Gary's hand covering hers. "Wow, Gary! I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Gary quickly pulled back his hand, insisting, "No, we're not—"

"R-right, he was just—" Misty stammered, putting as much distance between herself and Gary as the booth allowed.

The top-heavy blonde smiled and winked conspiratorially. Leaning forward to set down their food, she whispered, "Don't worry you lovebirds. I can keep a secret." Before Misty and Gary could try to explain, the young woman bounced away humming happily.

Misty brought her hand to her forehead and ran it through her still-loose hair. In a defeated but amused voice, she asked, "She can't keep a secret, can she?"

Gary stared down at his salad and shook his head. In the same tone, he confirmed, "Not to save her life; it's going to be all over town in an hour."

"My sisters are going to be  _overjoyed_  when they find out," Misty griped as she picked up her fork. An irritating situation was no reason not to enjoy what looked to be a delicious lunch.

Gary looked up from his plate and shot Misty a wry grin. With a bitter chuckle, he replied, "At least they probably won't hear anything. Do you know how many old women in this town feel compelled to find me someone to 'settle down with' so I can take care of the lab and ranch 'properly'? Here's a hint: it's all of them."

Misty leaned forward as she violently speared a bite of salad. Not to be outdone, she returned, "Just Pallet Town? Trust me, my sisters  _will_  find out, and they'll tell people in the  _league_. You have no Idea how gossipy gym leaders are. Brock  _alone_  is going to have a field day."

"You think it won't get to the research community? I'm going to hear from other  _regions_!" Gary countered, roughly snatching a sandwich from the tray between them.

Misty swallowed her bite of salad, then practically shouted, "You think there aren't gym leaders in other regions?"

"Professors talk to all the new trainers!"

"Gym leaders talk to all the trainers challenging the league!"

"I guess we might as well actually go on a date then!"

"Why not? Everyone's going to think so anyway!" Misty shouted back, only realizing what she'd said after the words had left her mouth.

Gary opened his mouth, then closed it and blinked several times. He slowly moved back and sat down, both of them having stood up and leaned forward until they were inches apart during the exchange. "Um… I mean…"

"We don't have to–" Misty began, sitting back down herself.

"Right," Gary interrupted. He was quiet for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face, then said, "I mean we could. Would you–"

Misty's eyes widened. "Wait. Are you asking me out?"

Gary chuckled. "If you'd let me finish asking, yeah. Yeah, I am."

Misty froze. She had no idea how to respond. The question was completely unexpected. She didn't have much experience with guys, and what she did have was a disaster; it was one of the things in her life that she was most embarrassed, and frustrated, about. There was the whole mess with Ash, then when she moved back to Cerulean all the guys were either too scared to ask out the strong new gym leader or too distracted by her sisters.

Realizing she'd kept Gary waiting for way too long, Misty smiled awkwardly and asked, "You're joking, right? Why would you want to go out with me?"

Gary shook his head. "Really? You're a strong trainer, you're responsible, and you're not afraid to speak your mind." Grinning, he added, "You're pretty cute too."

Misty felt her cheeks warm up. He was actually serious. He wasn't exactly a nobody either. He was a rising researcher set to inherit a world-famous laboratory. More importantly, he was confident and pretty cute himself. Finally, she answered, "Um. I guess. Sure, why not."

Gary smirked. It was little too amused for Misty's taste, but attractive nonetheless. "Cool. Let me give you my number and we can figure out the details later," he said, fishing a pokégear out of his pocket.

As Misty pulled her own off her belt, she tried to move the conversation back to more comfortable territory. "So, besides Umbreon–" the dark-type rubbed against her leg and trilled at its name "–Electivire, and Blastoise, what do you have on your team?"

* * *

Misty activated her pokéball and released Gyarodos into the Pallet Town bay.

Looking over the beast with a practiced eye, Gary let out a low whistle and said, "Wow, that is a good looking Gyarodos. You must take great care of it."

"Um, thanks," Misty said, blushing a bit. Gary didn't seem flustered, but everything felt a little different to her now that they were going to go on a date.

Shifting his gaze back to Misty, Gary asked, "So, I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Misty said as she climbed onto her pokémon, "after five. That's when I get off work."

"Got it. I'll be busy at the lab during the day anyway," the young researcher agreed.

"Okay. Um, later," Misty said, turning her Gyarodos toward the open water.

"See you later," she heard Gary call from behind as she started the long ride back to Cerulean City.

Slowly making her way out of the bay, Misty thought back on her day. She'd ridden down to Pallet Town for the rare chance to see her old crush and somehow ended up having lunch with his former rival. His former rival whom she apparently had a date with, which still hadn't really sunk in.

Gary definitely wasn't the person she remembered. He was funny and handsome, but more importantly, he could actually be sensitive and relate too some of the less pleasant parts of her life. It wasn't just her parents, he understood having responsibilities that had to be put ahead of his own desires. Life had put them both through a lot and they were on their way to becoming responsible adults, unlike the gallivanting trainer she'd come to visit.

Maybe this was the beginning of a new chapter. She could finally get over Ash and move on to the next phase in her life, with someone who was on the same level. She was getting ahead of herself though, a bad habit of hers. It was just a date. Whether it went someplace or not, that was more than enough to be happy about.

When the young gym leader cleared the bay and reached open water, she patted her Gyarodos' flank to let it know that it that it could speed up. The pokémon let out a roar as it quickly accelerated, causing a spray of salt water to splash its rider and a gust of warm air to blow her still unbound hair behind her. It was exhilarating, and Misty made a conscious decision to stop thinking and just enjoy the feeling of racing across the waves. It was a beautiful evening and she was in her element; she could sort out her thoughts when she got back to Cerulean.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there,
> 
> So, this is my first Pokémon fic. I'm sure the title is completely unoriginal and there are a thousand stories out there using it, but I'm terrible at names and that's the best I could think of. Anyway, this has been sitting half done for a _while_. In case it's not clear, this is set at the beginning of the first _Sun & Moon_ season. I have ideas for a few more stories following this one (including AU versions of the episodes with Brock and Misty), though I have no clue if I'll ever get around to actually writing them.
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and I hope you review. Kudos are a nice pick me up, but even a bad review will make my day. That said, no pressure; I've lurked plenty myself.


End file.
